I know this is early...well 15 days to be precise, but I can’t wait to share what I hope to be another superb trip to Kruger.

It was 5 years ago when my first of now 4 Kruger trips began in August, little did I know that that first journey would be the catalyst of an obsession. My year is now dominated by Kruger in one degree or another. Last August we returned to the UK after a fabulous trip to Kruger and the preparation began. We first begin the process of going through our photos for our photo book and also our trip report, this we try to prolong as it still feels part of our holiday. We also spend a few weeks deciding if we are going to go back to Kruger next year.....always knowing that we really want to and probably will. So we plan our route and camps and then when it is time to book, we book our reservations, usually for more nights than we need as we won’t have booked flights by then. By October we are looking for flights and this year got a good deal. We also start looking at the exchange rate and purchase Rand as and when it looks good. Just after Christmas we were told about the discount car hire and sure enough it popped up and we booked a Nissan X-Trail.

Before I visited Kruger I wasn’t into photography or animals in a big way. That has all changed now and I find myself sitting around our local church yard for an hour trying to get a good photograph of a little owl, usually unsuccessfully, I like them as they remind me of the owls in Kruger. Photography kit and camping gear means that we have little space for anything other than a few clothes in our luggage, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Meeting people in Kruger is a great part of our holiday and we have met some lovely ones. 2 Years ago we met 2 forum couples one from the UK and one from SA and we have stayed in touch. The SA couple we email and are meeting up again at Satara. The UK couple we now meet up with several times a year to talk about Kruger and photography (as they are both super photographers) and will be staying together in several camps this August.

We also met a UK couple from the forum who had taken her father’s ashes to Kruger to scatter them. I remember my dad had been to Kruger in the early 90’s and I had always invited him to join us. This meeting made me more determined to convince him to join us and after playing the ‘it’s my 40th Birthday trip’ he eventually decided to join us for part of the trip with his SO.

With 3 months to go I noticed the Forum logo Design competition had started again and so I sat down and came up with a couple of designs, again to keep my mind on Kruger but off the fact it was a few months ahead....and I am eagerly awaiting the next stage.

And so there are only 2 weeks left, I am putting the finishing touches to my routes, yes I do try and pre-plan which roads I may go on and where I may stop for a coffee etc and I’ve just finished making a camera bean bag/tripod to fit on the car door. I will let you know how that goes, or you may tell by the quality of the photos.

In 5 weeks time I will be back and the process will all start again..........Kruger is definitely in the blood.

well we have been back for a couple of weeks now and after the usuall come down, we have started to go through the photos , so a trip report will follow soon..ish.

But to some up.....

18 nights in the park...

lots of lions...especially males..14 leopards......7 in one day!!!2 cheetah3 porcupines

2 forum members

best breakfasts - crocodile bridge

mad moment - a couple getting out of vehicle for drinks, toilet etc 50 metres from a leopard!!!

best moments - my dad and wife having their only leopard walk out onto the road in front of us both 5 minutes from leaving the park at orpen gate.

Overall a great holiday as usual except for the bank holiday weekend and a few silly people

John

PS Please help.....can anyone (sanparks welcomed) explain why 2 days before the august 2013 accomodation becomes available lots of accomodation has already gone for august especially all 6 huts at balule for 2 weeks solid .........how can this be so!!!

Last edited by john n poppy on Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I am getting ready to start my trip report and wanted to post this, just for info. and that it may help anyone going to kruger in the near future.

Just for info. Croc bridge does the best breakfasts in the park..well worth a trip down from Lower sabie...aswell as the leopards on the way.

LetabaWe had left our clothes on the washing line at letaba and gone for a drive after convincing my dad all would be fine. We returned to find one section of the washing line had been stripped of all our clothes leaving another section completely fine. Reception were no help and assured us it was a mistake and the clothes would be returned. well they werent. So if you see a vervet wearing one black sock, ladies pants, a big grey jumper and a yellow t-shirt, to name but a few, give it a telling off from me.

BaluleWe had a put a small bag of food in the fridge consisting of bread, ham , crisps for our dinner drive, when we came to leave the bag had gone. The guard on the gate asked us if all was ok and when we explained he remembered seeing an african gentleman removing a bag similar1 to ours an hour or so previous when they checked out.

It isnt the value just the principle. We always donate all our clothes to any locals we see as we leave the park and our extra food (especially the 10kg of rice we use for our bean bags.)

So after about 14 hours and 1 change we arrived in joberg...5 ish hours later we arrived in Croc Bridge. We were surprised how far it was from the main road to the gate. We usually arrive in berg-en-dal first and I missed Malalane bridge. Our first animal was a warthog in the gate area carpark, we booked in and then headed off to pitch the tent.

Tent pitched we decided to drive to the dam up the road and then sort our camera equipment out there...bad mistake...I couldnt find my camera batteries and began to loose it, after hours of travelling tiredness had made me grumpy, or at least thats my excuse. We headed back to the tent, emptied the car and eventually found them . We then decided to sit out and just take in the sounds and vibe of kruger.

We had bushbabies jumping over our heads heading out into the bush and large bats leaving their roosts. Slowly the corners of my mouth edged upwards as I realised for the next 3 weeks this was my home. After a quick wash it was time to snuggle up and prepare for an early morning drive.........or so I thought.

We were awoken at around 9.30 by a diesel 4x4 ,caravan and family with a 3 month old. For an hour they drove around, moved their caravan, set up their brai and spoke to their neighbours...so loud we heard everything thats how we know the baby was 3 months old. I am not against children in KNP, far from it, but a crying 3 month old is not what I imagined when I booked Croc bridge.

Anyway we were up at 5am and tried to get up as quietly as possible so not to disturb anyone else, that might sound very polite of us...but the least number of cars on the road the better and I dont want others knowing its time to go

So of we went, the gates opened and our first morning drive began. Not 10 minutes up the road we were stopped by 3 females and around 7 cubs. It was so dark, photos were terrible but I will try and post one. They soon left the road and dissapeared into the dark as quietly as they had emerged. Our initial excitement passed into contentment and we knew that if we saw nothing else all day we had had a lovely sighting. Of we drove to Lower sabie......

We saw quite a few young zebra foals, they are adorable but as yet I havent got a photograph the captures there innocence.

We found a troop of baboons just warming up for a day of foraging and stayed with them for at least 30minutes, several cars came past and stoped for a second before continuing...looking for lions we smiled to our selves

Its amazing how many big birds you see in Kruger, at home we really only get buzzards, so while I am in Kruger I indulge myself with as many photos as I can.

(I will add photos soon...I promise...that is; when I can drag myself away from the live cam)...photos added

john

Last edited by john n poppy on Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

and so we packed the tent...and still to our surprise there was a 2 man tent under a tree near us that we had seen no one inhabit all the time we were at croc bridge ...very strange.

We headed up the tar road to LS, we were going to pop in pitch the tent and head back out for the day....we did the usual 'Is that were we saw the leopard last year?...Yes I think so...Is it still there 'Youve all done it.....

We had very little until about 4km to lower sabie when this leopard walked across the road in front of us.

It quickly disappeared but luckily it had a friend who walked along the river edge and then disappeared itself.

and so we pitched the tent and then went to sunset dam where we watched the Hammerkops empty the dam of fish....they seem to catch so many fish I am amazed there are enough in there for all to eat.

A few impala visited the dam and we managed to get a not bad shot of an oxpecker on one of their heads.

We drove on and there was a traffic jam, we decided to drive on through when we saw what everyone was watching.....another leopard, but it was camera shy and the number of cars outweighed the urge to stay.

We headed up towards Skukuza but turned left over the bridge...the damage was amazing to see and I began to realize how much affect water can have on this ecosystem. After the bridge we turned right towards Mlondozi on the S30 and while photographing this big elli a jeep jockey came flying past

..mmmm..we decided to move on and soon saw several cars parked up, on the other side of the river and then we got to a small turning circle overlooking the river and there were another 2 leopards relaxing the sun. They were far off but how great o see them relaxing in such a great spot. After 15-20 minutes they got up and slinked off into the reeds.

We visited Mlondozi picnic site and had lunch, we are always very careful of Vervets since one joined us in our car . Anyway as we enjoyed the view the vervets enjoyed everyone elses dinner

after a good hour we left the dam and went in search of cheetah, yeah stupid I know but we all drive this area in hope of seeing cheetah....and as we turned down the H10 this beauty walked across the road in front of us and even climbed a termite mound to allow us a couple of shots.

From here it was a quick trip into LS to stock up and then out to sunset dam again for a few shots...

We decided to head back to see if the leopard was there still, and it was; still car chaos and again we managed a couple of shots until....wait, whats that.....a cub clambered up the tree next to its mum and stood long enough for a shot before it his in the foliage...our first leopard cub

and mum cleaning herself.

We travelled up several Km's and then turned around, about 2 km form the leopards we had just passed...a leopard with impala in its mouth came running out of the bush metres in front of us, it skidded to a stop dropped the impala and ran back into the bush. To quick for a photo but such a great sighting and our 7th leopard of the day. That evening we sat on the LS deck and drank to our days luck.

We did think how quiet it was on the deck, very few people bothered to sit there, it was cold but pleasant. What a difference a couple of spot lights would make to the deck, it might just get people to look out into the bush instead of at the TV

Last edited by john n poppy on Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And so it was up early as usual we were going to drift up towards skukuza and then turn left halfway up into the southern central area. We started off with anice but brief encounter with a male lion 5minutes from lower sabie.

as we turned left onto the gravel road we had a lovely drive with 4 hyenas, they were obviously returning to their den and we hoped we might see it but they marched off into the bush..hyenas with a purpose.

A first for us on our loop was an albino impala, this must be one fast impala as I am sure at night it stands out more than its friends...

We saw very little on our journey but enjoyed the peacefulness of getting off the main tar roads. We returned to lower sabie to check out any birds in camp.

we had intended to go out on a little drive in the afternoon as we had to be back for a sunset drive, as we left camp a motorist told us about 2 lions in the riverbed to the south, so we went to have a look. They were chilled out and far off but you can just see the second one lying down behind the main one.

We stayed for 5 minutes and then turned around in search of leopard...no leopard but a pride of lionesses were relaxing on the rocks. There was a bit of a jam but we found if we parked at one of the small loops we could see them as well as on the road, so the crossword came out and we relaxed for 30 minutes with a view of lionesses.

We returned to lower sabie and set of on our first sunset drive of the trip, we turned right out of LS to look at lions the guide said, we thought it would be the ones we had seen but no, on the far far far bank was a lone lioness. My SO had bought me some great binos, not expensive as binos go but after handing them around the truck all were very impressed, both with the binos and the lioness.

We turned around and headed back towars LS, as we got close my SO thought she saw a leopard in the excitement I agreed and was shouting LEOPARD...as we stopped I realised our mistake (not mine you will note) it was a bushbuck...this would be my SO's first inacurate sighting on a sunset drive but by far not the best.......

We headed onto the H10 bridge as the sunset.

We drove onto S29 and in an open area the guide stopped and asked everyone to leave the vehicle and then see what we could see. Before anyone had got out one person said 'theres an elliphant over there'. The guide looked not impressed but he was getting out anyway. Several people then had photos with the guide and his gun while a small group of us looked in the opposite direction...hoping this would soon end.

'Whats that?' a lady next to us was looking at a lone tree in the distance. I got my super duper binos out and saw something behind the tree, the tail said CHEETAH errrr and we were not in the vehicle. We quickly called the guide who dragged himself away from the photoshoot. He used my binos and said 'its a civet'. Now I know I mistook a bushbuck for a leopard but that wasnt a civet. we eventually persuaded the driver to drive a bit closer and use the lights to check it out...hed also bet his rifle on it not being a cheetah.And so we moved closer .....and nothing...until a wilderbeast came hurtling out of the long grass straight past us,'he looks like hes running from a predator' the guide said. I could see myself holding the rifle already. Anyway we waited for a while longer and nothing so the guide pressed on, about 30 seconds and a bend later a cheetah walked onto the road right in front of us. Now I wanted that gun

We followed the Cheetah for a good 10 minutes, calling everynow and again. We saw nothing else on the drive and i never got my gun.

So we headed up towards Skukuza for breakfast, not 5 mins up the road we met a lion coming towards us, we stopped and waited for it to come to us. By then there were more cars coming behind us and we spotted a lioness further on, so we left the lion to block the cars and followed the lioness.

Well what a result, as we got to the lioness just as she was calling out the cubs and their babysitter

It was such a great sighting and for most of the time there were just 2 cars there. Shame about the lighting for photography but who cares. and then we saw the male lion walking up the road with cars in tow. He amazingly came and sat dowm right in front of our car.

and he let me take some nice portraits.

we left as more cars arrived, but not before one idiot had tried to get to close and ripped of their under car tray by driving off road

we spent a reasonable amount of time there and only when it got busy did we leave for others to enjoy the experience. We had got chatting to a SA couple and they left just before us. As we came out we spotted he had left his binos etc on the rear boot of his car. We picked up his spotter book that had seen some use and caught him up. After passing him the book and pointing out his binos, he was over the moon he hadnt lost his book. We wished him well and continued onto Biyamati.

On the way to biyamati we saw a lovely birchals coucal and a cute barred owl.

We saw little else and booked into Biyamati to wait for our friends. About 3.30 we travelled south down towards the S25 to see if we could meet up with them, as we reached the junction we saw some impalas snorting and looking left, we slowly turned left just in time to see a leopard crawling across the floor, we stopped and it dissapeared. We then saw it briefly sitting by a tree and although we got no photos it was a super exciting sighting. 15 minutes later we met up with our friends from the uk, who we met through the forum and spent a great night together at biyamati, even spotting a civet walking through camp.

Wow John n poppy! Am I about your Lion sighting! Those cutest little cubs are gorgeous! And you could see them so clearly in the open! Fantastic!

As to the difference between the Pearl-spotted Owlet and the African Barred Owlet, from Sasol's Southern African Birds by Sinclair and Davidson, the following: The large rounded head with fine concentric barring, the white scapulars and the lack of 'eye spots' on the nape differentiate this species from the slightly smaller but similar Pearl-spotted Owl. The African Barred Owlet is white below, with dark brown, triangular spots. I hope this helps!

Today was a very quite and relaxing day, we saw very little but what we did see was also down on our wish list, so we did spend a long time with them. And they were a pair of brown hooded kingfishers that we saw on the way to berg-en-dal.

We were watching and photographing one when a jeep jockey came belting past and it flew off ....but luckily over to its mate that we hadnt seen..result

We popped into camp to see if our neighbours from last year had returned, but with no luck. We found out later, via a card they sent that they had arrived the day we left the park. The card arrived in england the day we left for SA

We visited matjulu waterhole in the hope of leopard or rhino but instead got a flock of white fronted bee eaters, they are our favourite little bird and a good hour was spent enjoying these beauties.

On our way back to camp due to going on a sunset drive we saw another one of krugers bird highlights.

In camp as we waited for the time to depart on our sunset drive, we were visited by a cheeky monkey.

Our sunset drive was very uneventful and we saw very little exept some car headlights off in the bush but it was still great as we were the only 4 on the drive and the company was great.The only photo of the day was the hippo in biyamati weir.

We had stayed with friends at biyamati and we were meeting my dad and So at berg-en-dal. They had arrived late the night before, it was my dads second visit (he visited in the 80's) and his SO's first.

On the way we had been tipped off about a pair of pied kingfishers on a causeway and we were lucky enough to see them and they were not afraid or bothered by us...or the huge fuel tanker(thats what it looked like) that came past and only just squeezed past us on the way to a private camp im sure.

We arrived at berg-en-dal and it was great to see my dad after 4 months, both he and his SO looked well and his SO's first animal had been a giraffe and she had been very excited .As we got ready to go my dad saw a squirrel on the road and after 5 minutes of trying to get a photo of it I remembered what it was like to be new to the bush...but also realised how long and slow our days drive was going to be.

Of we set...we saw the usual animals on our way to skukuza but every impala, elliphant, waterbuck, warthog etc was their first or second and so they would have to stop. It was great that they were really enjoying their time here and me and my SO would try and guess if they would stop at the next impala or kudu

While we waited for them to take photos of the bigger animals we looked for the smaller ones..

We stopped at skukuza for a break and then set off again, as we neared satara we were lucky enough to come across a pride of lions, they were in tall grass but we were glad that they had seen 4 of the big five on their first day.

We arrived at camp and checked in, while my dad moved into his hut we pitched tent and then returned to his hut for their first brai of the trip. On the way we saw 2 wild cats chasing each other across the road ,great to see but maybe not as wild as would have liked. After food and a cheeky redwine, followed by amarula we retired our eyes so as they would be ready for the next day.

Before we met my dad we were lucky enough to see 2 Black rhinos together.

So today we had decided to try the mananga trail and so we spent the first hour of the day watching the waterhole by the webcam.

At 6.55am we queued up outside reception, after a quick transaction we paid our money and were off. It was difficult not going out as the gates opened but right outside the gate we were met with a hyena that was on his way back home.

We turned onto the trail and drove very slowly, we were in a hire car and so i tried to miss anything that may damage either the paint or the underneath of the vehicle, the sound of the scraping thorns was worse than the damage and after a while we settled down to looking for animals.

As we reached the get out point in the middle of the trail we were able to alight and stretch our legs.This was the first year we had seen such large flocks of quelea.

A few more pics from the day.

On our way back along the S100 we did see a lionesses head and leg but there were too many cars around to make the sighting worth hanging around for.

That evening we tried to find another one of our friends from the forum who we knew were in satara camping and this would be their last night. We eventually found there camp but they had already retired to bed, we left a note and popped around in the morning. Luckily they were up and spent a lovely 20 minutes catching up.As we spoke to them they said they had thought they knew which one was our camp as there were two very small tents but one had chairs; so they thought that wouldnt be us. and they were right.

Although some people snigger about forums etc; i have met some lovely people and met some great friends through this forum that I never would spoken too if it wasnt for a little yellow ribbon, so those of you who are reluctant to fly the ribbon, do not be afraid, you might meet some lovely people.